Social Democratic Party of the Saar region

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The Social Democratic Party of the Saar was the Social Democratic Party in 1918-1935 by the German Reich separated Saar . It was the sister party of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .

history

prehistory

In the German Empire , the SPD was organized according to districts. In the Saar area, parts of the Prussian SPD district of Upper Rhine Province and the Bavarian district of Rheinpfalz came together. A common organization had to be created first.

In the election for the Weimar National Assembly on January 19, 1919, votes were still held separately. In constituency 21 (Koblenz and Trier, which included the Prussian parts of what would later become the Saar region) the center had become the strongest party, in constituency 27 (Palatinate) the SPD. 72% of the population of the Saar area was Catholic, so the social democratic party had poor qualifications compared to the center party of the Saar area .

organization

The SPD of the Saar area elected Valentin Schäfer , who had been chairman of the SPD sub-district Saar since 1914, as party chairman in 1920. There were only a few active local groups outside the Saarbrücken district. This was predominantly the case in the few Protestant towns in the Saar area.

politics

In a largely Catholic area, it was important for the Social Democrats to be successful in the elections to emphasize that their policies were not hostile to the Church. Nevertheless, she faced a clergy that was clearly positioned for the center and against the SPD.

The SPD had to resolve an important conflict with the free trade unions in the dispute with the USPD and KPD. The SPD of the Saar area pursued a clearly nationally oriented policy and strove to reintegrate into Germany. The conflict arose in the assessment of the introduction of the French franc as the currency of the Saar area. While the unions support the payment of wages in francs, the SPD rejected the introduction of the franc, as it counteracted the goal of reunification.

In terms of content, the ideas of the SPD, the center and the people's party in the Saar area were close to one another in the 1920s. The parties therefore appeared united to the League of Nations and the imperial government.

Election results

After the center, the SPD was the second strongest party in the Saar area. In each of the first three elections she achieved five to six of the 30 seats in the National Council; in the election on February 13, 1932, there were three; for the first time the KPD had overtaken the SPD.

After the seizure of power

When the National Socialists seized power in the Reich, the Saar-SPD found itself in a difficult position. The main focus of their policy was to support the persecuted social democrats and trade unionists as far as possible. This also included sharp attacks against the Reich government. On the other hand, the party had always clearly spoken out in favor of the reintegration of the Saar region into the Reich. Under the new rulers, however, this reorganization meant a ban on the SPD and persecution of its supporters. On April 7, 1933, the party executive passed the following resolution:

"The board of the Social Democratic Party of the Saar region feels compelled to declare again in the face of various attacks that the Social Democratic Party of the Saar region will, as in the past, also in the future advocate the complete re-affiliation of the Saar region to Germany ... This statement is independent of the internal political struggle for freedom of the social democracy. "

- Decision of the party executive of April 7, 1933

With the ban of the SPD in the Reich, the Saar area became a retreat for leading social democrats. On June 20, the first edition of the new SPD party newspaper Die Deutsche Freiheit was published in Saarbrücken . The sheet with a circulation of 100,000 copies and was illegally distributed in the Reich.

The Saar vote

In the course of 1933 it became increasingly clear that the Saar-SPD's hope that the new regime in Berlin would find a moderate policy and make the conflict between democracy and national unity disappear was illusory. On October 14, 1933, the National Socialist German Reich left the League of Nations. Now the SPD changed its position. On October 16, Braun stated:

"As long as this blood and executioner regime is raping Germany, a return to the Saar is out of the question."

- Speech by Max Braun on October 16, 1933

Now the SPD has called for the referendum on a return of the Saar to be postponed by five to ten years. This position could not prevail in the League of Nations. On June 4, 1934, the date of the referendum was set for January 13, 1935. Now the SPD had to commit. The new position was to vote for a rejection. The status quo was preferable to reclassification at this point in time.

The KPD of the Saar area had also come to the same conclusion. The real goal of a communist dictatorship modeled on the Soviet Union was not realistic; the status quo was also the better decision for the KPD. This decision was made at the time when the Comintern's Popular Front policy was developing , and the KPD was now striving for unity of action with the democratic socialists.

In the Saar area this led to the formation of the freedom front between the SPD and KPD. We spoke together about a common position in the Saar vote. On July 4, 1934, Max Braun and the KPD leader Fritz Pfordt published a joint appeal to vote “No” in the referendum and to hold a joint rally.

The Saar referendum turned out to be a disaster for the Popular Front. Of the 528,105 votes cast, 477,119 were for the return of the Saar area and only 46,613 for the status quo. This means that the proportion of voters in the status quo was still below the 9.6% that the SPD alone had achieved in the 1932 regional elections.

With the reorganization of the Saar area on March 1, 1935, the SPD ban also took effect in the Saar area.

Personalities

Chairperson

Group leaders

Members of the National Council

MP 1st WP 2nd WP 3rd WP 4th WP
Anton Betz member member 0 0
Max Braun 0 0 0 member
Karl Brettar 0 member 0 0
Johann Peter Hoffmann member member member 0
Heinrich Lieser 0 0 member member
Hermann Petri member member member member
Hermann Ringle member 0 0 0
Bernhard Schneider 0 0 member
Walther transmitter member member member 0
August Werkle 0 member 0 0
Fritz room 0 member 0

See also

literature

  • Maria Zenner: Parties and politics in the Saar area under the League of Nations regime 1920–1935. Dissertation . Saarbrücken 1966.